Easter

How was everyone's Easter / Passover? 

We went over to the in-law's for dinner... well when I say dinner I really mean we ate at 3pm so I don't know what you call that. Lunner? Dunch? Weird? I'll never get used to that. Never.

I made Irish soda bread because that's what my MIL asked for. It's got a cross on it... does that count for Easter? Hehe :)

I also made a strawberry trifle as requested. I love to make this. It's simple, it's delicious, and strawberries make me think of my Mum. (I had to cut the sugar on the recipe because it's unbearably sweet otherwise. It could just be me but I figured I'd warn you.)

And I got to try out my new mixer paddle with the scraper and I LOVE IT! It mixes so beautifully! No lumps, very little scraping down on the sides to do... definitely recommend it. (And no, KitchenAid is not paying me to say this! They could if they wanted to... Ahem.)

After dinner we went into the neighbour's yard to visit their alpacas. So. Flippin. Cute. And with the neckerchiefs? Gahhhh cuteness overload!!! It is just me or do alpacas look a little awkward? Their heads don't seem to match their bodies, and their tails look like they have a giant guinea pig stuck to their bums. LOVE!

That white one was front and centre the entire time, and they just follow you around wherever you walk. My MIL was all "Touch them! They're so soft!" and I kept shaking my head. I was the same way as a kid at a petting zoo... always refused to touch animals or ride the ponies. I'm happy to stand back and admire from afar :)

AND LOOK AT THIS LITTLE ONE! I mean, seriously?!?!?! So cute!

But then one of them started pooping and peeing with its bum facing us so we took it as a sign to go. Very talented to do both at once though. Bravo.

The back of my in-law's property. There's a tyre swing on the tree that appeared out of nowhere. W-E-I-R-D.

My in-law's cat Lillie snoozing away :)

And the bestest thing that happened all weekend? The sight of the hubs with the vacuum. PORN FOR WOMEN. Yes? He's all, "I can't believe you're taking a picture of this!" and I'm all, "Uhh it might never happen again so you bet your ass I'm taking a picture". One day, if we have kids, I can show them this picture and tell them the tale of their father and the day he vacuumed.

(He's vacuumed before. I just like to give him shit about it because he so rarely does it hehe)

Life According To Instagram

I realised I haven't been posting pictures I'd taken on Instagram so here's a few of my faves...

Quilty things... Basting the churn dash quilt; arranging blocks for a custom baby quilt; playing with the Moda Bella Solids card; and figuring out a layout for the Pickle Dish mini quilt I started.

Cooked, baked & eaten... Quesadillas; German pancakes; Italian wedding soup; and a mini white chocolate cheesecake.

And of course, there's the cats :) The cats have adopted a box and I don't have the heart to get rid of it even though the sight of it irritates me. Also, they're fluff monsters and there's always enough fluff on the carpet to make a small cat.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made cookies! I don't often bake cookies because baking a cake is a thousand times less tedious. But the hubs sent in a request (by that, I mean he actually emailed me a formal request) for chocolate chip cookies. And since I don't take direction well at all, I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

They were intended to be oatmeal raisin but I didn't have enough raisins on hand. You should've seen the glee in the hub's face. And it turns out it was a good thing I made them with chocolate chips because we gave some to our friends who don't like raisins. It's strange that anyone would hate raisins (well, my MIL does) but phew!

Nom nom nom :)


And afterwards when we were munching on cookies...

Me: "I think I still prefer oatmeal raisin."
Hubs: "NO. YOU ARE WRONG."
Me: "What?! It's my personal preference!"
Hubs: "You're wrong. WRONG."
Me: "You're telling me my opinion is wrong?"
Hubs: "Yes."
Me: "Your nipples are not level."
Hubs: "What?!?! Bullshit."

Then the conversation included a ruler, a level and picture-taking. I can't be blamed... I have ADD, and he's tall so that's where my eyes rest when I face him.

We're really not for everyone.

Cake + Sewing = My Kinda Awesome

It's rhubarb season! Which means I find the need to buy it every time I see it and make something. Usually strawberry rhubarb pie, but yesterday I thought I'd try something different and went with a rhubarb coffee cake. If you like rhubarb, you need to make this. Nom nom nom.

Back to working on the quilts for my parents. I got busy with making baby quilts for the many, many friends and family who were / are expecting, and had to set this aside. Even though it's a little monotonous making the same kind of block over and over again, I can't help but smile while I make this because I love that I'm making them for the two best people in the world :)

Strawberry Cake

Strawberries remind me of my Mum. I can't see / eat / think of strawberries without thinking about her :)

(Altogether now... "Awwwww"... hahaha! Love ya, Mum!)

I bought two punnets of strawberries and with the one I had leftover (the hubs is a strawberry thief), I made a strawberry cake. I liked this recipe because it was a cake that looked like a pie. And it had a sugar crust. 'Nuff said.

So good. So so so so so good. Seriously yummy. And easy to make. And pretty.

Make it. Make it soon.

Devil's Food Cake

I made a devil's food cake to take to a friend's place over the weekend. I tried out a new chocolate frosting. We decided it's a keeper :)

Nom nom nom...

The hubs found the need to give the cake a report card.

FYI, the hubs says 'balls' when he means 'awesome'. He thinks it'll catch on. He thinks wrong.

Brunch

Last night before bed I dreamed of eating German pancakes for brunch today. But we had no strawberries, so I wrote my husband a note that read something like "If you go buy a punnet of strawberries, I'll make us something yummy. P/S: You're pretty."

Flattery will get you everywhere. Suckaaaa...

I made a little amendment to the baking time and temp... I ended up only baking the pancakes for 20 minutes at 375F (190C if my sisters want to make this) instead of Deb's instructions because I have a pretty hot oven. Seems like it did the job perfectly :)

While they baked, I sliced the strawberries and macerated them in a little sugar because they were a tiny bit tart.

I didn't tell my husband what we were having. He kept swanning into the kitchen with eager eyes, declaring that it smelled good. But I stood my ground. And I'm happy I managed to surprise him because he was in awe when they came out of the oven. He was so gleeful and happily spooned strawberry slices into his pancake.

We had the maple syrup out but didn't end up needing it. And it's pretty embarrassing how quickly we wolfed these down :)

Also embarrassing -- The hubs brought home doughnuts from work on Thursday and I put them in the oven that night so the ants wouldn't get to them. Totally forgot about them and I kind of only remembered them when I smelled something burning when I was preheating the oven.

True story.

Bananarama

Remember Bananarama? Oh how I loved them... I also thought the words in Love In The First Degree were "guilty as a drunken bee"... yeesh.

Moving along (before I show my age too, too much)...

My husband purposely ignores the bananas I buy because he knows if he lets them continue ripening, it can only lead to banana bread. He is singlehandedly thwarting my attempts to ensure his proper potassium intake!

I baked them into two loaves of banana bread last night, and for some reason I had a brain fart and used plain flour instead of whole wheat flour like I normally do. Good thing I didn't add chocolate chips like I was going to or this would've just been extremely unhealthy. It's just borderline unhealthy right now :)

Happy St Patty's Day!

I don't really celebrate St Patrick's Day, but when there's something as delicious as Irish Soda Bread in existence, then yes, please!

I made my first batch of Irish Soda Breads last St Patty's and since then, my husband's been dreaming about it. I think it's the caraway seeds that do the trick.

Toasted and buttered. Soooo good.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake

I posted about the chocolate chip sour cream coffee cake I made the other day and a few people have commented and emailed asking for the recipe. I can't remember where I got this recipe but it's extremely yummy and should come with a warning label. And something this good needs to be shared, so here's the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1 stick butter, room temp

1.5 cups sugar

3 eggs, separated

1.5 tsp vanilla

16 oz sour cream

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp baking soda

Topping:

12 oz chocolate chips

0.5 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar, then add egg yolks and vanilla.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
4. Add sour cream and dry ingredients alternately into the butter / sugar mixture.
5. Beat the egg whites till stiff, then fold into batter.
6. In a small bowl, mix 0.5 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon together.
7. In a greased 13" by 9" pan, pour in half the batter. Sprinkle with half of the sugar / cinnamon mixture and half of the chocolate chips.
8. Pour the remaining batter over this, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar / cinnamon mixture and chocolate chips.
9. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.
10. Try not to eat the entire thing at once.

I do warn you, if you make this, I cannot be held responsible for what happens after you smell this baking in the oven.

Restful Weekend

We had a pretty good weekend... Spent time with the hub's parents and cousins on Saturday and hung out together all Sunday, watching movies and stuff on our DVR. We watched Good Dick (heehee I can't help but giggle everytime I say / write the title... yes, I'm 12). It's weird, but a good kind of weird.

The hubs took some time out of his busy schedule to terrorise the cats...

Don't they look thrilled?

And here he is doing the 'Kevin'. We have a friend Kevin who is known for pulling that face in pictures and he is so awesome that he needs to be imitated. Poor Matilda looks like she's plotting his demise.

This chocolate chip sour cream cake is so very, very good. And so very, very dangerous.

Our new favourite sandwich... a chicken patty in a steak roll. This is how my husband eats it... with the coleslaw in there.

I like my coleslaw on the side because I hate messy sandwiches with stuff falling out while I eat. Except sloppy joes. Which I made on Friday (from scratch, not the canned stuff). That I can handle because it's so damn worth it.

Happy Pie Day!

Yup, it's finally here... I know you've been counting the days.

Today's National Pie Day!!!

Yes, I'm goofy enough to mark something like this in my calendar and make a note to make a damn pie. I fear for my future babies too.

So I made a chocolate peanut butter pie.

I'm not a fan of chocolate + peanut butter. I just don't get the sweet and salty thing. I didn't grow up in this country, okay? Don't look at me like that!

But my husband is in love with this pie. If I ever made this pie and didn't offer him the damn spatula to 'clean' afterwards, we'd go straight to divorce court. You laugh, but I'm serious. Sort of. Okay not really, but my point is he really likes this pie.

And we're going to visit with his cousin this evening. His cousin's equally obsessed with this pie. To watch the two of them eat this pie is nothing short of spectacular. Plus it shuts them up for a while.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a few Oreos left over from making the crust that I need to make friends with.

Flickr Favourites: The Baked Edition

In honour of all the Thanksgiving prep that'll be happening in kitchens all over the country, here are some pretty pictures of baked goods. Try not to drool too much.

1. Baking With Love, 2. AZ Cookie Bake 12 12-9-06, 3. baking biscuits, 4. Cupcakes from Baked website, 5. 09.11.09 | Baking Day, 6. baked doughnuts, 7. Hand pies ready to be baked, 8. the baked hostess like cupcake, 9. Baked Apple Cake

In The Works

It feels good to have WIPs again. I'm working on two things in tandem just because I need to play catch-up big time.

This one's obviously Christmassy... I love those little trees.

This one's for a commissioned quilt that'll be a queen-sized quilt. One of three. Wish me luck.

And who's excited about all the baking that'll go on tomorrow?! Thanksgiving is a new concept to me (I think it'll be my third this Thursday) but anytime I get to bake, I'm a happy, happy girl. I think I'll be making one of these, and one of these.

The latter is for my FIL who... doesn't... like... pecan pie. I don't understand how anyone could not like pecan pie. My brain hurts thinking about it. The only time I've not liked pecan pie was when the cafe I used to hang out at changed their recipe and added dates. DATES. Who does that?! Ridiculous. Dates.

Buzzy Bumble Bee

I just had to post pictures of my niece from the party we were at last night celebrating Oktoberfest, Halloween and Autumn.

How adorable is she! She kept going "Bzzzzzz!" at people, and it took a lot of restraint not to squish her.

And then she ran away.

My pictures of the night are sorely lacking because I was busy laughing at all the ridiculousness going on. When there's beer, there's crazy. But it was so good to catch up with friends and chat into the wee hours of the night.

I did take pictures of some stuff I brought though... cornbread muffins for the chili.

Chocolate gingerbread cookies requested by the hosts. I also brought a gingerbread bundt cake, but the picture turned out awful. The cake, was yum though :)

Apple Cake... Now With Lemon

I believe the best recipe for making your entire home smell amazing is Apple Cake. It's also a recipe I have to make while my husband's not in the kitchen because he keeps stealing the chopped apple covered in cinnamon and sugar. Can't really blame the guy though.

The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen... I suggest you try it. Soon. I'm serious.

I'd started making the batter before I realised I didn't have any oranges in the house.I did have lemons though, so I used that. Thank goodness it didn't ruin anything. It just has a little bit more zing to it, and being a lemon fan, that can only be a good thing :)

So good.

Look What I Got!

I went to get a new darning foot (it definitely was the foot... machine is just fine. Phew!) and I spied with my little eye... Love by Amy Butler! I've been looking forward to it that I almost did a happy dance. Okay I did a happy dance. Don't judge me.

I pulled these six fabrics and the lady at the store kept saying what an odd combination orange and aqua were. It most certainly is not! Your opinion is wrong, lady.

Also, how do you completely eliminate any health benefits to a low-fat banana bread? By adding chocolate chips, that's how. I baked it in a bundt pan, hence its odd shape.

What To Do With Three Gallons Of Vanilla Ice-Cream...

My in-laws are opening a creamery and we got samples from the ice-cream company to see if we wanted to go with their products. Well we're getting a bunch of flavours next week, but the lady had the vanilla on hand, so she dropped it off.

All THREE gallons of it. Oh. My. Grief.

Clearly, my husband is quite happy about it!

Now everything we make has to go with vanilla ice-cream because what in the world does one do with all that?! My mum-in-law made apple crisp the other evening, and yesterday, I made a devil's food cake to bring to a family dinner.

This was my husband's suggestion... I'd never made one before so I thought I'd give it a try.

We haven't cut into it yet (that happens tonight and I can't wait!) but I got to taste the cake when leveling out the bottom layer. So. Good. Dark, moist, chocolatey... Yum.

(It was almost ruined because just before I poured the batter into the pans, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't added the sugar! I can't even imagine what it'd taste like... Ick.)

I believe devil's food cake is normally iced with a white icing, but I decided to just use a chocolate ganache. Because I like chocolate ganache. A lot. I did keep it to just a thin layer because there's going to be all that ice-cream anyway.

I hope it's good... it's always nerve-wrecking bringing something you've never made before to a get-together!